A Delicate Balance
by Rae An
Summary: Cara's trainer has a new lesson to teach her—not one of pain, but of its equal and opposite weapon, pleasure. femslash


Cara tentatively laced up the red leather boots—those same boots that had kicked her and trained her all these years. But now she was nearing the end of her training and close to being granted the full title of Mord-Sith. Part of her reveled in the conclusion of her painful training, but part of her also remained petrified with fear knowing that the final sessions of her training were bound to be the most brutal.

Cara and her sisters had been tormented in every way imaginable for years. They had been beaten, scorned, and abused. When they had reached womanhood, many a time had Lord Rahl's men forced themselves upon the young women under supervision of the Mord-Sith. The encounters were painful and pleasureless. But this only provided a clear avenue for the Mord-Sith trainers to demonstrate true pleasure to the young women. And Cara's own trainer, Taren, had taught her that pleasure was sometimes a more effective means of persuasion than was pain.

Cara's first time had been terrifyingly exhilarating. About a year ago Taren called Cara into the bathhouse after a long day of training and ordered her to bathe herself. Of course Cara obeyed and as she did, Taren shed her light leisure robes and joined Cara in the luxurious bath. While Cara often shared baths with her trainee sisters, never had a Mord-Sith joined them before. Now as Cara sat alone in the water, petrified with confusion, she couldn't take her eyes away from Taren's bare body. Although Taren maintained the same physical features as Cara's sisters, they looked so much more beautiful on a healthy woman. As Cara's sisters' bodies were emaciated and bruised, Taren's smooth skin rippled with lean muscle, and her curves were perfectly filled. Cara watched in awe as Taren waded towards her, freeing her long, raven hair from its braid as she did so.

"Cara, my dear," Taren crooned lowly. "This evening's lesson will differ slightly from your regular studies. I have an important juxtaposition for you."

Taren began drawing dangerously near, fraying Cara's nerves as she frantically scanned the room for Taren's Agiel.

"Have no fear, Cara," Taren breathed, now standing just a handsbreadth away from Cara. "Tonight you will learn about life's greatest pleasure. And man's greatest weakness."

With trembling resolve Cara replied, "Whatever you desire, mistress."

"Cara, actually this is about what you desire," Taren replied, scrupulously raising a dark arched brow. "I can see in your eyes that you like what is before you—this body, it's curves and skin and muscle. Many do."

Taren ran her hands over her torso, drenching her skin in water. And Cara felt a strange stirring in her very core which she had never experienced before. It made her want to run through a forest and dive in a lake and hide in a dark place all at the same time. But mostly it made her want to be closer to Taren.

"Hm, that's it, Cara," Taren hummed. "Let that feeling guide you, but don't let it control you. Always maintain control of it."

"Mistress, I-"

But before Cara could speak another word, Taren had closed the small gap between them and met Cara's full lips with her own. Although Cara had had many sexual encounters with the D'Haran men, no one had ever kissed her. Taren's lips pressed fervently against Cara's, begging for entrance into her mouth. Finally when Cara's lips parted, Taren's tongue stroked Cara's, sending shockwaves through Cara's limbs. Suddenly Taren drew back, catching Cara's lolling green eyes with her own gray ones.

"There's that fire, Cara," Taren mused as Cara surveilled her breathlessly. Taren placed a palm on Cara's heaving chest and pushed her back against the wall of the bath pool.

"Now this next step can be quite enjoyable," Taren whispered as her lips tickled Cara's ear and her hands began roaming Cara's thin body. Shivers struck through Cara's core as Taren's lithe fingers traveled up her thigh. Her other hand held down Cara's chest as Taren's mouth worked at Cara's neck.

"Mistress—," Cara began desperately, but Taren's fingertips slid up between Cara's legs, and Cara was interrupted by a gasp of pleasure. The sensation was like no other she had ever experienced; it filled her belly with crystalline elation and flooded her limbs with inundating ecstasy. It truly was the opposite of all her years of training.

"The most important part is the build," Taren sighed into Cara's neck, her voice dripping with sensuality. "The teasing, the playing. It makes the climax that much greater."

Until now Cara's hands had gripped the wall, fearful to touch her mistress unbidden. But her body urged her to caress Taren's smooth skin and trace her tensing muscles.

"Mistress, may I?" Cara whimpered through the waves of ecstasy, holding her palms up in submission.

"Seems I've trained you too well," Taren huffed, her lips arching into a grin against Cara's neck. "Lay your hands on my body. Learn it. Know it. And you'll be prepared for your test."

Cara brought her hands to Taren's hips under the waters surface, running her fingers over the jutting bones nestled in taught muscle, straining as Taren twisted to bring her mouth to Cara's collar bone.

"Focus on," Taren gasped, "the reactions of the body."

Suddenly, Taren gripped Cara's rib cage and with surprising strength lifted her from the water to rest on the edge of the pool, Taren's head now at Cara's chest.

"How do you react when I kiss you here?" Taren planted her lips on Cara's sloping collarbone.

"Versus when I kiss you here?" Cara's back arched and a rushing gasp wisped from her lips as Taren's mouth fell on her sensitive breast and the trainer's tongue slid over her nipple.

"That's it, Cara," Taren breathed, glancing up at Cara's face. "Find that for anyone and you control the body."

Cara struggled to focus on Taren's words as her mind was flooded with ecstasy, and her chin tilted back to the ceiling.

"Now what about here?" Taren whispered, sinking to her knees as her mouth traveled down Cara's body, and her hands gently pulled Cara's thighs apart. Taren's lips met Cara's thigh, traveling up towards her apex. But before they reached it, Cara felt Taren's fingers slipping through her folds, sending her spiraling as a moan escaped her lips.

"Here, Cara," Taren breathed in Cara's ear as she held her glistening fingertips up for Cara to see. "Here is the sign of your labor. The evidence of pleasure. This indicates you're doing something right."

"Yes, mistress," Cara responded breathlessly, closing her eyes against the overwhelming elation as Taren's fingers rejoined her apex.

"Cara, remember this," Taren whispered in Cara's ear, caressing her neck with a free hand. "The tongue can wound, but it can also please."

Taren dropped once more to her knees, replacing her fingers with her mouth at Cara's apex. Cara's head spun, and she gasped in ecstasy as Taren's fingers slipped inside her.

"Mistress," Cara whimpered through the waves of pleasure. "I want you to feel this ecstasy."

"Soon enough, Cara," Taren replied, glancing up from her work with beautifully glistening lips.

Cara felt the pleasure mounting in her chest as Taren's tongue quickened it's pace along her womanhood. Soon Taren had reduced Cara to a gasping, trembling body, begging for release, though from what Cara was unsure.

"Mistress, please," Cara sighed desperately, not knowing for what she was even asking as the pleasure became overwhelming.

Taren's pace increased and suddenly every fiber of Cara's being was inundated with ecstasy. She couldn't restrain the small cry that escaped her lips as the intense wave swallowed her mind. But just as she existed in the universe of pleasure, the feeling receded, leaving Cara gasping for breath with a pit of warm contentment in her core.

Taren pulled herself from the pool, her muscles glistening with water as they strained powerfully. She casually took a towel to her hair as she assessed Cara's heaving form at the edge of the pool.

"Now, Cara," Taren crooned as she sprawled on a lounge chair, stretching her long legs on the expansive cushion. "Now is your time to demonstrate what you've learned."

Cara turned to assess Taren behind her, drinking in the sight of her mistress's powerful body languidly awaiting her.

"Of course, mistress," Cara replied, eagerly crawling from the pool. On all fours she straddled Taren in a strange role reversal of mistress and servant. Taren watched with a slight grin, eager to assess Cara's knowledge. Cara lowered her lips to Taren's, reveling when Taren readily opened her mouth to her. Even without Taren's touch, Cara moved with the swells of pleasure, easing her tongue around Taren's with the ebbing and flowing. Remembering Taren's instruction, Cara pressed her mouth to Taren's collarbone, worshipping the delicate curves. Receiving only slight sighs from her mistress, Cara refocused her efforts on Taren's straining neck, working her lips around Taren's hot skin.

"Good, Cara," Taren gasped, granting Cara's efforts with gratuitous sighs. "Don't forget... your hands."

Cara realized that in her eagerness, her hands had lain dormant at Taren's sides. Now she began roaming them over Taren's muscled limbs, over her heaving ribs and rolling backside before tentatively approaching Taren's thighs.

"Go ahead, Cara," Taren breathed, her hands brushing Cara's sides in reassurance. Cara delicately danced her fingers between Taren's legs, being rewarded with an indulgent moan from the older woman. Encouraged by Taren's response, Cara more fervently continued her task, eagerly shifting her mouth down Taren's torso. As she kissed along Taren's thigh, she began slipping her fingers inside Taren just as her mistress had done for her. Taren gasped, her body straining, and a slight whimper escaped her lips.

"Mistress, are you alright?" Cara asked in terrified concern, never wanting any injury to befall her.

"Cara, I have endured all the pain that you have and more," Taren replied breathlessly. "You couldn't hurt me if you tried."

Taren's words rang in Cara's ears like a challenge, and the fire in her belly lit by sensuality was now fed by her own competitive nature.

"As you wish, mistress," Cara crooned, gently kissing Taren's neck before returning to her place at Taren's apex. As Cara's tongue gently stroked Taren, the woman gasped and writhed in ecstasy until suddenly Cara slipped her fingers back into her mistress. Taren's lips parted in a moan of pain or pleasure—Cara couldn't tell which.

"Now... you see... Cara," Taren gasped breathlessly. "There is a very delicate balance between pain and pleas—"

Taren cried out as Cara thrust even deeper, still carefully playing with her tongue.

"Just as there is a delicate balance between mistress and servant," Cara breathed, relishing the flash of astonishment across Taren's face. She kissed Taren's womanhood as she met Taren's eyes in a challenging gaze, before indulging her mistress's pleasure once more.

Taren's hips began rolling into Cara's face, and her fingers found Cara's hair, gripping her tightly as the pleasure intensified. Cara listened to Taren's moans as Taren's body drew closer to that brink of ecstasy. And just as she was nearing it, Cara stopped, sitting up from her ministrations and coyly licking her fingertips.

"Interesting technique, Cara," Taren heaved, sweat beading on her smooth skin. "And one that may get you hurt with a man. You've actually given me the perfect opportunity to demonstrate another concept: you don't necessarily have to touch the one you want to entice to perform effectively."

Cara watched in astonishment as Taren reached her own hand between her legs, her ribs arching as her own fingers began working.

"Often... seeing others... in their own ecstasy... is enough to entice," Taren heaved breathlessly, her hips now rolling with the swells of pleasure. Suddenly Taren's back arched and a gasp parted her lips.

"Mistress," Cara implored, now regretting her childish decision to torture Taren as she watched her trainer writhe in ecstasy. As Taren's height fell, she sat up, placing her hands on Cara's hips before reaching her fingers down to Cara's apex and slipping them through the silky wetness.

"Look at that," Taren taunted, holding up her glistening fingers to Cara's face. "I didn't touch you once, but here's the evidence.

Taren sucked her fingers pointedly before adding, "And yes, there is a delicate balance between mistress and servant, but for now I think it is clear to both of us exactly who is in charge."


End file.
